A Month (or a Week) of Guided Prayer
- Another way of making a retreat in every day life
- A chance to talk 1 – 1 with a trained prayer companion, at a mutually agreed time
- An individual journey which starts from where each person is at
How would it work?
Once a parish or group of churches decides to set this up, arrangements are made for a group of experienced prayer companions to come to the area.
After an initial session all together, each prayer guide will have several people assigned to them. Times for meetings will be arranged.
Each person will meet their prayer companion weekly. The guide is not there to tell people what they should do; they have been trained in gentle listening. They may make suggestions, but are there to help people reflect on how God may be nudging them in their present situation.
Participants undertake to set aside a time each day for personal prayer.
At the end of the month, all participants come together for a final session, to reflect on what has gone on.
This type of retreat can also be set up as a Week of Guided Prayer. In this case, each retreatant sees their prayer companion daily, if possible. Again, times of meeting are arranged for a mutually convenient time.
How do we set about arranging all this?
Contact Canon John Bowes, of Bristol Spirituality Network. (tel: 0117 973 5844). He knows people who have had suitable training in accompanying others, and will help get a team of prayer companions together.
To find out more, download our Guided Prayer leaflet as a pdf file.
|